"If things are going untowardly one month, they are sure to mend the next!" ~ Jane Austin
This past week I've opened my eyes each morning to find a world a thousand times brighter than the one I'd been existing in since July 5th. It appears that my lifelong rollercoaster has finally reached the bottom of that particular plummeting crash and is more starting to climb into a dazzling blue sky.
To address some of the issues I listed in my post on Missing Home; for the most part I'm back to sleeping better. It's now rare for me to have a night of lying in bed hours after the sun has set with a mind that racing, refusing to let dreams soothe me. I do still have nights where I fall asleep fast and stay that way but wake up feeling as though I've run a marathon in the midnight hours. I don't have an explanation for that, the only thing I can think of is bad dreams. Hopefully that will pass. Work is as crazy as ever, but boring it now is not and the stress level has, maybe, eased down a notch (or maybe I've just adjusted to it!). I'll take that and be grateful, especially since there are a few people I work with who are truly awesome. Synge was for awhile continuing to head downhill both in weight and overall health. After more vet visits and bloodwork it (fingers crossed!) seems we might finally have her on the regime she needs. She even gained some weight last week!! My frenzied apartment hunt is now over, but that is all you will hear on that subject for a bit, at least until I return from Norway - which I am thrilled to report is finally happening!!!
It will be a very different trip this time and not just because it's only two weeks instead of four. My friends dogs has stabilized but is still far from stellar health and continues to require a lot of care and attention. This means that hiking is not an option; surprisingly though I'm only mildly disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to go revisit some of the trails I explored last summer, and maybe even head down a new path or two, but the hikes I really wanted to do I did last summer. I have those memories and that will be enough for now. Besides, I'll have beaches to hang out on, the city to keep me busy, and - for when I really need to just move - the hundreds of walking trails that live just outside my friends front door. I think I'll love this trip just as much, it will just be a different kind of amazing.
There is one thing that hasn't changed. I still miss Alaska, so much so that every breath I take still hovers around the edge of physical pain. But that has always been the case , it always will be, as long as I'm away. That I have learned to handle to breath through as long as other aspects of daily life are bearable, which they are. I've even had a bit of fun when yesterday Steph, her parents, the kids and I took on the Utah Renaissance Faire at Thanksgiving Point.
We cheered the Knights of Mayhem jousting, got lost in the spell of gypsies dancing, fell into joy at the sight of the sparkling Elven Fae, and bowed to Queen Elizabeth I herself. Even Captain Jack Sparrow made an appearance atop a pirate ship, both bringing much delight to adults and kids alike. We will definitely be back next year, only this time we will have costumes. Steph and I have decided that we would like to be Gypsy Faery Mermaids (I forgot to mention there were mermaids too!), a costume I think will find no better candidate, because at heart we already are all of these!
~~~~
